Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

The National Planning Policy Framework requires local authorities to produce and update a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). This assessment considers sites that are, or may be, appropriate to have housing developed on them. It also identifies constraints which may need to be overcome and determines when the land or buildings might be developed for housing and how many dwellings will be delivered.

The assessments for the current version of the SHLAA were completed in late 2023/2024 with the most up to date information available at the time and including sites which have been promoted to the Council for residential use as well as sites the Council has identified itself.

It is acknowledged that the status of sites can change over time. For example a site might be granted planning permission, or lapse or construction might commence or a new application be made. The SHLAA will be updated periodically to try to ensure that the data is as up to date as possible at any given time.

The SHLAA considers sites which would have a dwelling capacity of 10 or more dwellings, it considers the suitability, availability and achievability of each site in terms of their potential to deliver housing. Sites of 10 or more dwellings are ‘major’ housing sites as defined in the NPPF.

The SHLAA is available as a map layer on our mapping portal.

The SHLAA is not a policy making or site allocation document. The assessment does not grant planning permission or allocate land for either housing or employment uses. Allocation of land or granting of planning permission is only done through other prescribed processes